LINCOLN, Neb. — Doug McDermott had 21
points and 11 rebounds to lead No. 16 Creighton to a season-opening 71-51
victory over North Texas on Friday night.

About a dozen NBA scouts were on hand to
watch McDermott, a returning first-team All-American, and UNT’s Tony Mitchell,
projected as a possible lottery pick if he turns pro after this season.

Mitchell, who averaged a double-double
last season, finished with 18 points, seven rebounds and three dunks.

Creighton led 39-25 at halftime and
opened the second half on a 14-5 run, with Avery Dingman making back-to-back
3-pointers to stretch it to 53-30.

Tony Benford, a Marquette assistant for
four years before replacing Johnny Jones at North Texas, lost in his head
coaching debut.

Austin Chatman added 11 points and
reserve Avery Dingman had 10 for the Bluejays, who have won 39 straight
regular-season home games in November.

“I want to give Creighton a ton of
credit,” Benford said. “They are a great basketball team that is well coached.
They shoot the ball so well, and they don’t get enough credit for what they do
on the defensive end of the floor. That being said, we have to do a better job
of executing.”

Creighton returned nine of its top 10
players from last season’s 29-6 team, which won a game in the NCAA tournament.
Seven of those players scored during a 26-12 first-half burst that broke open
the game.

Bluejays coach Greg McDermott prodded
his team to improve its defense after it ranked 222nd nationally in field-goal
defense last season. The Mean Green, favored to win the Sun Belt Conference,
shot 32 percent.

McDermott and Mitchell were teammates
two summers ago on the under-19 Team USA squad that played in Latvia, and they
remain friends.

McDermott, a 6-foot-8 junior, scored in
double figures for the 37th straight game. He fought off double teams to go
6-of-11 from the field, and he made all eight of his free throws.

Eschenique, Will Artino and Ethan Wragge
took turns guarding Mitchell, but there was only so much they could do against
the versatile 6-foot-8, 235-pound sophomore forward.

Mitchell’s first points came after he
stepped in front of an Austin Chatman pass meant for Echenique and took it in
for a rim-rattling dunk. He hit the Mean Green’s only 3-pointer of the first
half, batted away Andre Yates’ shot in the lane for the first of his two
blocks, then went down to the other end and scored on a putback dunk.

Mitchell picked up his fourth foul with
13 minutes left. By then, Missouri Valley Conference favorite Creighton led by
21 points, and it didn’t matter that he sat out the next five minutes.

Advertised as the greatest athlete to
come out of North Texas since “Mean” Joe Green of 1970s Pittsburgh Steelers
fame, Mitchell was one of two freshmen to average a double-double last season.
The other was national player of the year Anthony Davis of Kentucky.

UNT now heads to Manhattan, Kan., for
the opening round of the NIT Season Tip-Off. The Mean Green will face
Alabama-Huntsville on Monday, followed by either Lamar or Kansas State.

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